My Apple TV 4k started flickering - couldn't wait till the new one came out, could it

[Sill]

Have you ever had an HDMI cable fail on you? Before it goes out completely, it'll cause the picture to stutter. Thats what just happened to my 4K tonight.

It started with the app we were watching. The picture froze, and the spinning butthole appeared on the screen. I couldn't back out with the menu button, so I had to hit the home button. Going back in to the app, nothing happened. I tried two other apps, and they both launched but wouldn't play anything. I rebooted, I switched cables and inputs on the tv, and I've gotten it to the point where it will launch apps and play shows, but the picture gets a burst of static, then the screen goes black then the picture comes back, over and over.

I dug out my old aTV 4HD and put it in service, its working just fine.

I did a search and this problem was huge after a tvOS update about 4 years ago, but it stopped with a reboot. This one doesn't look like its gonna stop.

This is only 3 years old, I'm gonna see if Apple with do a goodwill exchange for a discontinued refurb 4K.

 

[Audit13]

Yes, I had an HDMI cable go bad.

Are you sure it's the ATV and not another component, bad HDMI port, etc.?

 

[Sill]

Please re-read my post, you'll see I mentioned that I switched cables, switched TV inputs, and the problem persisted. I switched to a different Apple TV and the problem stopped.

 

[Audit13]

You tried another Apple TV 4K unit with the TV?

 

[Sill]

I don't understand... is my post not showing up on your computer? Please let me know if there's something I'm doing wrong here.

From my original post:

"I dug out my old aTV 4HD and put it in service, its working just fine."

 

[Audit13]

I suggested testing with another Apple TV 4K because an Apple TV HD may still work with a failing HDMI port and/or failing HDMI cables.

An Apple TV HD does not require HDMI 2.0 or HDCP 2.2.

My Apple TV 4K box is about 2.5 years old and has always worked perfectly, even after tvOS 14.5.

Try forcing the ATV 4k to run in 1080.

 

[Sill]

I'll have to wait until it starts doing this again. It stopped on its own about two hours after my first post.

 

[Marshall73]

I have a similar issue with mine, I get the coloured static which I can resolve by disconnecting the HDMI and reconnecting. Same on 2 other TV sets. YouTube seems to cause it almost immediately and I think it is due to overheating as I pulled it apart and the fan never turns on. Generally its ok though. Will be getting a new one soon then I’ll set about this one and replace the fan.

 

[Sill]

I wonder if the Apple TV has the same issue that the iMac has - dust and debris getting sucked into the cooling channels and reducing air flow. My 2012 iMac started running slower and slower until it froze. Out of frustration I smacked the display with my hand, and some dust came out the bottom. I saw some cat hair sticking out so I grabbed it and clumps of the crap started to fall out. I didn't even know the slots under the display were there, I never really thought about the cooling system.

So I grabbed my car detailing vac and ran it over those slots and then the mid-case vent. It ran perfectly after that. When the hard drive died I pulled the front panel off to replace it and saw the perfect opportunity to clean the thing totally. If I could find those gaskets separately, without having to buy the complete kit with the tools, I could make a real case for pulling the display every couple of years and doing a real cleaning.

 

[TyWahn]

Have you ever had an HDMI cable fail on you? Before it goes out completely, it'll cause the picture to stutter. Thats what just happened to my 4K tonight.

It started with the app we were watching. The picture froze, and the spinning butthole appeared on the screen. I couldn't back out with the menu button, so I had to hit the home button. Going back in to the app, nothing happened. I tried two other apps, and they both launched but wouldn't play anything. I rebooted, I switched cables and inputs on the tv, and I've gotten it to the point where it will launch apps and play shows, but the picture gets a burst of static, then the screen goes black then the picture comes back, over and over.

I dug out my old aTV 4HD and put it in service, its working just fine.

I did a search and this problem was huge after a tvOS update about 4 years ago, but it stopped with a reboot. This one doesn't look like its gonna stop.

This is only 3 years old, I'm gonna see if Apple with do a goodwill exchange for a discontinued refurb 4K.

This happened to me. I would only intermittently see the AppleTV 4K screen and it would blink to black over and over. I did everything you tried - cables, ports, even the AppleTV HD.
The only way to fix this Is with a factory reset.
If you can see the screen long enough navigate to Settings and reset all settings. It's not as bad as it sounds ass if you have an iPhone, it will do quick set up.
Don't toss it just yet until you try resetting to factory first.
Hope this helps.

 

[Sill]

I never throw out Apple gear. With the exceptions of my Newtons and my G4 Powermac I've still got everything I've ever bought from the company, even my dud iPod 3rd gen. If the 4k breaks it'll go into a box and disappear in my office somewhere.

Anyway, the 4K is working again. We just watched a couple episodes of a show over Hulu and not one glitch. Oddly, the picture looked like it was being upscaled. I should probably go through the settings tomorrow and see if anything changed.